Since antibiotics were first used for treatment of gonorrhea, the organism has progressively developed resistance to the sulfa drugs prescribed to treat it. Currently, CDC STD treatment guidelines recommend dual therapy with a cephalosporin antibiotic (ceftriaxone is preferred) and either azithromycin or doxycycline to treat all uncomplicated gonococcal infections among adults and adolescents in the United States.

This session of Grand Rounds explored the development of antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a growing public health concern because the United States gonorrhea control strategy relies on effective antibiotic therapy.